Friday, March 5, 2010

A BAD WEEK....

Today is Friday...March 5th...the sun is shining and its about 39 degrees...we still have a snow pack of about 6 or 7 inches outside. Yesterday I went down behind the barn to check on my beautiful bees. Yes...I'm also an amateur beekeeper...It was quite a hike in the snow. I trekked down the hill to the barn and finally got to the hives.....I knocked on the sides of the supers and put my ear to the walls and they were quiet...not a sound or a buzz met my knock. I had prepared some pollen and honey patties to feed the ladies, because I was hoping to have them meet me at the top of the hive. When I opened it, I found that any precious feedings that I had given them to get them over the winter were all gone, the upper super had drawn out comb in it, but no capped honey, bees or larva...bad sign....I quickly looked down into the frames as best as I could, and didn't hear a peep or a buzz....since it was only 39 degrees, I quickly placed the patties into the hive and went on to my second hive....the same thing happened...there was still a little food left in this hive , but I didn't hear anything or see any movement. I pulled out a frame of drawn comb and saw that a mouse had been nibbling on it...ate a hole right in the middle of the frame, so I checked a little further and found nothing but empty comb...in this hive I couldn't see to the bottom either...I saw no dead bees outside of either hive, so I am hoping that they moved down to the bottom super to stay warm and maybe they were still sleeping. I called my good friend Tom Kees prior to going down there, talked about getting a hive from him and he told me that he had his doubts about his hives. It was a bad summer for bees last year and he had concerns about his girls making it over the winter. He lives down in Fairmont and anytime I need advice, I call him...

I started beekeeping about 5 or 6 years ago..everything went fine until I had a bear visit the hives ..it tore them apart, ate all the honey and any brood that was present..parts of the supers and frames were everywhere along with it's huge paw prints in the mud and teeth marks on the boxes. At that time I had 3 hives. I was crushed and really pissed that a bear had the nerve to attack my hives ...we really don't live far into the booneys, but there is wilderness all around us and the homes are far apart so we do have some critters that visit now and then. Fox, lots of deer, stray dogs, cats and of course lots of ground hogs and numerous other wild life. As I surveyed the damage, I noticed that there was a buzzing sound coming from under one of the huge blocks that the bear had strewn around the bee yard. I looked closer and found a small cluster of honey bees clinging to the under side of the block in a small hole that was in the ground. I ran to get another super and some frames with new foundation and set up another brood super, then I quickly got my bee brush and using my bare hands, I scooped up the bees that were on the cement block and gently put them into the new hive...then I scooped up more bees and a few more bees and was satisfied that I had retrieved the queen since they were all together.. they flew around my head as if to say thanks mistress for saving us and getting here before the damned bear came back to finish us off. I contemplated driving our little chevy S10 down there and sleeping with a rifle across my legs..ready for action in case the critter came back, but thought he could sneak up, quietly eat the rest of my bees and be on his way...instead, we put a couple of huge cemet blocks on top of the hive and I prayed that they would be good for the night....after a sleepless night, the next morning I went down there again and they were as I left them.

I called the game warden in Green County..he came around a few days later and comfirmed that indeed it was a bear...probably one that the mother had banished from her den and he was no doubt on the move looking for his own territory. I was advised to get a balloon and fill it with ammonia and smear bacon grease on it and hammer it into the tree that the hives are under...if he decided to come back that may intice him more than the few bees that were left....when he would lick the bacon off the balloon, it would probably break and he would be get the contents in his mouth and it just may cause him to run off and leave things alone.....since a few days went by and he didn't return, I felt that perhaps he had eaten his fill and moved on to other parts, so I didn't do the bacon, ammonia and ballon thing.

The bees seemed happy all summer , coming and going and doing their thing..Syd and I left for our long anticipated trip to Italy in September..had a great time, came home and a few days after we got home, I went back down to visit the hive....I WAS SHOCKED ...there was not a bee to be seen, there was no honey or brood in the hive..everything was quiet...no one was home...I took the hive apart, found no trace of bees, or honey, no evidence that there were bees in the hive except for drawn comb. they had disappeared...I called Tom....we thought they had swarmed or perhaps became victims of CCD......all winter I hunted for more info on the internet, joined the organic bee yahoo group and followed any advice that was given by the pros on that group. Last Spring, I bought 2 packages of bees, placed them in the new hives and all summer I hoped for the best...it was not a good summer for the bees and I had to continuously feed them in order to try to get them started...they were southern bees...brought up from Georgia...as I read more and more on the organic yahoo group, I worried more and more that they just may not make it over the winter. Seems that my worries were valid...this past winter was a hard one and from what I can see they didn't survive the horrendous sub zero temps we had. I will go down there again next week..it's supposed to get into the 40's so maybe I will be surprised...if any of them made it, it will be something more to write about...in the meantime, I have my order in for 2 more packages of honey bees...the queen is supposed to be a buckfast Italian...one that is bred to survive some cold winters..maybe we may get honey this year after all.........

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I consider myself a multi media artist since I work with so many mediums. I have studied with countless master artists in the contempory art world. I am also a PMC certified artisan and teacher. In addition to PMC and POLYMER clay, I am passionate about designing jewelry and also feel the same about drawing and painting from old sepia toned photographs. I also love to paint watercolor portraits of small children and scenic landscapes from the western PA area where I make my home. I have shown my work in numerous juried exhibits and have accumulated many awards during my artistic career. I currently teach some of the adult education classes at the Monongalia County Schools in West virginia. Currently they are Watercolor, Precious Metal Clay, Calligraphy, and Polymer clay. I am presently employed at THE APPALACHIAN GALLERY in Morgantown West Virginia. I am also a co-founder of the POLYMER CLAY COLLABORATIVE & MIXED MEDIA RETREAT. I hope to post at least once or twice a week on my blog, so please keep me on your bloggers list. I promise to be entertaining and informative.